Metamorphosis

Product Details

LearnOutLoud.com Review

Franz Kafka's novella is a bonafide 20th century classic about a traveling salesman that wakes up one morning to find his body has been transformed into that of a giant dung beatle. This highly symbolic tale about the plight of the modern working man, human alienation, and the eternal need to fit in has gone on to be Kafka's signature work. The audio version is brought to you through Thought Audio, and is narrated in a crisp performance by Michael Scott. If you've ever been interested in Kafka or have heard of the story's premise but never checked it out, now is the time. This book really is as good as everyone says!

Description

Metamorphosis, first published in 1915, is the story of Gregor Samsa, a young traveling salesman who lives with his family and financially supports his parents and younger sister. One morning he awakes to discover that during the night he has been transformed into a horrible vermin. Although somewhat of a horror genre, the story is often very funny as Gregor, his family and those around him deal with their own transformations as a result of this odd predicament.

The analogies of this story are unending. The Metamorphosis has been stated to represent Gregor's personal alienation and the effect of his deadening job, the problems in his family and how the demands placed on him have forced him to become a terrible being and the alienation of aged or disabled individuals confined to a bedridden state of existence.

Franz Kafka is a Czechoslovakian writer who lived from 1883-1924. Though virtually unknown during his lifetime, Kafka has come to be known as one of the most influential writers of his century. His writings have been recognized as symbolizing modern man's anxiety-ridden and grotesque alienation in an unintelligible, hostile, or indifferent world.

The Metamorphosis, though sometimes emotionally disturbing in its content, is an important and classic work to include in your listening library.

Reviews & Ratings

This was a very good production. The sound quality was high and the narrator spoke clearly and with good tone. I do not like overly melodramatic narrators, and this narrator was fine for me, not intrusive or distracting. I found the story a bit depressing, so I took off marks for that, but on the whole this was a very good production and I have downloaded others from the same people. They are doing such a public service putting all of these great titles out there for free!